Indiana football enters the biggest week of its 2024 season as it will travel to No. 2 Ohio State on Saturday in a top-5 showdown with a lot of implications in the race for the Big Ten Championship — as well as the College Football Playoff race.
As Indiana entered its bye week last week, questions about its health were the main topic of discussion following a very physical 20-15 win over Michigan the week before. On Monday, Curt Cignetti said it plain and simple; they are ‘refreshed and recharged’.
“We’ll be at full strength for the game,” Cignetti said. “In terms of the bye week, I think across college football, everybody is hurting a little bit at this point. Even when you’re playing every play in the game, you’ve got something. I think the bye week came at a really good time to kind of get refreshed and recharged.”
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The main concern over the last two weeks revolved around running back Justice Ellison and wide receiver Myles Price. Ellison took a hard hit in the first half and saw limited snaps after halftime. He had a season-low 17 yards.
On the season, Ellison leads Indiana with 686 yards and is tied for the team-lead with nine rushing touchdowns. He’s also averaging 5.7 yards per carry on the year.
As for Price, he took a massive hit across the middle of the field late in the first half which caused him to miss the entire second half. Price has not only been a very effective slot receiver for the Hoosiers this season with 377 yards and two touchdowns on 30 receptions — both yards and receptions third on the team — he’s also been extremely productive and underrated nationally as a punt returner. He has 258 punt return yards this season with a long of 65 yards.
Both players are massive contributors to Indiana football and will once again be featured options on Saturday against the Buckeyes.
“It’s important that you get your rest, you eat right, and especially in an off week, you’ve got a chance to catch up a little bit,” Cignetti added. “It’s critically important because it all works together, what you do inside the building and outside the building.”
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